SUBJECT(S): The episode ends with the panel where the old
men are arrested (see Milan, Duomo 38). Here the protagonist is Daniel, on an
elaborate throne, to get round of his short stature as, at the moment of the
judgement, he is only twelve. Susan stands in front of him, turning her back on
the spectator, with the body slightly bent. She seems afflicted, with a
sorrowful and melancholy countenance.

CRITICAL NOTES: The panel is arbitrarily inserted together with other
stained glasses, part of iconographic cycles of both the Old Testament and The
Passion of Christ. Most likely, both the cycles come from the large absidal
windows (nII Old Testament and sII New Testament) whose panels, executed between
XV and XVI cent., had been scattered all throug the 19th century in
consequence of the G.B. Bertini’s remaking (1835-38) and the following
interventions in the general reorganization of the ancient stained glass windows
(G. and P. Bertini 1861). Neither the post-war replacing of the panels, nor the
recent restorations (since 1962) have taken into consideration the problem of
giving an order and a legibility to the corpus of the scattered panels that are
in a great disorder. From a stylistic point of view, the panel considered is
homogeneus with the most of the Old Testament panels: monumental figures,
vigorous postures but helpless, there is no depth in the background, the scenes
are barely enriched of descriptive details and given to the protagonists only.
This kind of concept derives from the Bramantinesque figurative tradition, that
prefers solid figures fixed in geometric shapes. It’s certainly part of the
cultural background of the master of the old testament window, keeping himself
abreast of the manner halfway through the ‘500, steeped in both the culture of
central Italy and the northern interpretation of the Romanism. The name of that
artist has to be found out among the active masters at Duomo’s glass yard that
are listed in the documents between the forties and the sixties of the XVI cent.
Most likely, according to some scholars, the artist is Giuseppe Arcimboldi. He
was paid for a great number of drawings (1549-1557). Some of them are certainly
related to the St. Catherine of Alexandria window which he collaborated to with
his father Biagio; but, after due consideration, numerous could be those of the
Old Testament window . That attribution is supported by the stylistic analogies
with the artist’s famous works. Others, shift their attention on foreign
artists that presented drawings between 1558and 1561 (Antonio de…., the
Flamish Cornelius, Batista of Putheo) but as for their personality, it is almost
unknown and anyway, their intervention was modest. Yet, Conrad Mochis from
Cologne was the executor of the stained glasses. He had been at Duomo’s glass
yard between 1544 and 1569, working at several panels (he made the drawings of
St. Catherine of Siene window). He was an appreciated and good master and
enjoyed a certain indipendence in his work. That leads to believe that as for
some drawings where unlikely is the attribution to Arcimboldi, there could have
been Conrad’s hand.

CONDITIONS: in good conditions, in spite of the
several replacements by the Bertinis. 1962 Restoration by Ven. Fabbrica del
Duomo, Directed by Arch. E. Brivio: the dusting, the cleaning of the glasses
with detergent stuff based on polyphosphates, the washing with distilled water,
partial re-leading, protective nets with frames in bronze-marina and mesh in
copper wire. No counter- stained glass window.